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December 3, 2018 CRYPTO FREEDOM? At the October opening of a new centre for crypto-anarchy, the Paralelni Polis in Slovakia, co-founder Pavol Luptak called for a return to the political vision that underpinned bitcoin at its inception – what he calls a "crypto renaissance." Citing new surveillance infrastructures, relentless taxation, and the adoption of blockchain by state actors, Luptak and his associates are focused on the question of how to use decentralized technologies to liberate individuals from state control. In their eyes, bitcoin and related cryptocurrencies cannot be distinguished from the political climate from which they arose – the cypherpunk movement, with its focus on privacy and individual liberty. By providing a radical alternative to the banking system, this vision stands apart from an industry that has, to some, become defined by the use of cryptocurrencies as speculative investments. "We perceive cryptocurrency as a liberation tool," Luptak told CoinDesk. And it's the Paralelni Polis – which he calls a "freedom think-tank" – that aims to serve as a breeding ground for such ideas. Full Story CONCEDING CONTROL: Chinese insurance giant Ping An, the firm behind the eTradeFinance blockchain, is modifying its platform to allow its participant banks more control over their customers. The shift will require businesses utilizing the platform to sign up through member banks' web portals, rather than a central site, explained Frank Lu. Lu heads Ping An's fintech arm's blockchain division, OneConnect.  So far these member banks include HSBC, Standard Chartered, BNP Paribas in Hong Kong, Bank of East Asia and the Hong Kong branches of all state-owned commercial banks in China.  The platform was implemented with the idea of enabling customers to secure financing more easily, but preventing them from borrowing more than their credit lines allow by going through multiple banks. Full Story SLOW SHIFT: The concept of institutional custody for the crypto space has been floating around for months, but one of the world’s largest custodians does not feel the need to look into the space. State Street managing director Jay Biancamano, speaking at American Banker’s BlockFS last week, explained that his firm’s clients were not looking to custody any digital assets just yet. "There is no sense of urgency on the part of our clients to move into these assets right now. When they do, we want to meet them there … There is a very high level of interest but no need to move because currently none of our clients are looking for us to house these assets in custody," he explained.  His remarks come in sharp contrast with groups like Fidelity Investments, Coinbase and BitGo, all of whom have been taking steps recently to offer custody solutions for cryptoassets. That being said, Biancamano noted that the company is still “a blockchain-friendly firm.” Full Story CoinDesk’s Crypto-Economics Explorer aggregates data points across the industry to measure the size and opportunity of crypto markets. In addition to price and market cap, the explorer provides users with a comprehensive way to view the crypto-economic forces that shape an asset’s market maturity, growth, and potential. Network interest is important in determining the activity occurring within a blockchain’s internal ecosystem. We used the explorer to find the top-5 cryptocurrencies by on-chain transaction volume: BTC $3.77 bn ETH $1.78 bn BCH $190.12 mn XRP $130 mn ADA $62.99 Check out the CoinDesk Crypto-Economic Explorer to learn more. BROKEN RUN? Bitcoin is on the defensive once again, having carved out a bearish lower-high pattern near $4,400. Moreover, the bullish divergence of the 14-day RSI confirmed last Wednesday failed to produce a notable rally, indicating bearish sentiment is still strong. Hence, the cryptocurrency may revisit the recent low of $3,474. The prospects of BTC extending the three-year December winning streak would rise only if the immediate hurdle at $4,410 is scaled in the next few days. Full Story BEST OF THE BEST SCMP: North Korean hackers are now increasingly targeting individual crypto investors as international sanctions continue to hit the country. While the regime is said to have been behind a large number of high-profile hacks on exchanges in different nations, going after individuals appears to mark a shift in strategy, according to the South China Morning Post. Analysts told the news source that the change of tack likely means North Korea is seeking new sources of income as sanctions over its illicit nuclear weapons program cripple its economy. A cyber warfare expert said the new approach may be a response to crypto exchanges and other institutions tightening up their security. THE REST THE FINTECH TIMES One simple tool could boost blockchain adoption – especially in the marketing space. And that’s the humble QR code. According to The Fintech Times, QR codes are again becoming popular with major brands as a means to boost customer engagement. Now with the release of a crypto wallet that lets users scan a QR code and receive crypto assets in return, new avenues are opening up. The firm behind the wallet, Enjin, says in the article that the tool could see use by retailers, advertisers and tech firms as a means to reward users with discounts, crypto collectibles, "tokenised prizes" and more. "Discount tokens can be transferred to retail customers face-to-face or through websites, and rewards can be given to audiences, customers and employees – all via the quick scan of a QR code," it says.  FORBES: A notable new report indicates that the last three decades have each been successively warmer than any prior decade since 1850. And with the World Economic Forum issuing its own report in September saying that it had identified over 65 use cases for blockchain in addressing environmental challenges, Forbes asks if the tech can really save the planet. According to KPMG’s Arun Ghosh, blockchain is still maturing, but is accelerating environmental governance which is “at the core of rebuilding and addressing environmental challenges.” On the other hand, Dr. Jonathan Foley, executive director at Project Drawdown, disagrees. Citing the energy intensive nature of public blockchain systems, he says: "In fact, I think the best thing blockchain can do to help the environment is to simply not exist." WHO WON #CRYPTOTWITTER Copyright © 2018 CoinDesk. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: 250 Park Avenue South New York, NY, 10003, US Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

No Urgency, High Interest 🧐

December 3, 2018

ARCHIVE

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"The rich invest in time, the poor invest in money."

- Warren Buffett

We're looking for crypto believers that want to disrupt crypto education with us:

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MARKET

COIN	PRICE	24H
BTC	$4,011.35	- 3.39%
XRP	$0.358563	- 2.67%
ETH	$112.91	- 3.44%
XLM	$0.154186	- 4.68%
BCH	$165.16	- 4.37%

*Information as of 10:00 AM EST

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INSTITUTION

'A High Level of Interest' but No 'Urgency' for Storing Digital Assets, State Street Says

No need to move

State Street, a financial institution that stores over $33.90 trillion in assets for its custody services, believes there is "no sense of urgency" to offer crypto storage solutions.

However, according to managing director Jay Biancamano, there is a "high level of interest."

While State Street remains hesitant about offering crypto custody and will attempt to "meet" clients there when the time is right, competitor's are already laying the foundation.

The custody scene

Custody on an institutional level is something the community never talked about prior to 2018. Now, as institutions are looking to enter the space, it's only natural that custody solutions would pop up since these institutions need a secure way to store massive amounts of digital assets.

Already, both Coinbase and BitGo have received qualified custodian licenses to store client's assets. As for traditional custody solutions, both Northern Trust and Japanese banking giant Nomura are working to bring digital asset custody to life.

Regardless, it's clear crypto custody is gaining attention on Wall Street. Recently, Goldman Sachs invested up to $15 million in BitGo and Fidelity Investments, a platform with over 27 million clients, announced in October it was building its very own crypto custody solution.

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MILESTONE

Hitting 1 Million, Congrats to r/Bitcoin on the Milestone

The history

Once Bitcoin began to gain traction outside of the P2P Foundation forum, early adopters quickly looked for a place to host a community.

While Satoshi built BitcoinTalk, a forum made specifically for Bitcoin discussion, some looked elsewhere. Specifically, users turned to Reddit as a platform to help onboard mainstream adoption from another prospering online community.

Then, in September 2010 r/Bitcoin was born.

8 years later…

Since then, r/Bitcoin has played an instrumental part in building awareness about Satoshi's creation. Now, the community has finally crossed 1 million users - a notable milestone for the coin-specific subreddit.

This year alone the subreddit's user count has grown about +67%, adding the bulk of its users in the first half of 2018. Compared to the size of other communities on Reddit's platform, r/Bitcoin now ranks 112th in the world.

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BIG IDEA

Top 5 Industries to Be Disrupted by Blockchain Technology

1. Banking

• The benefits blockchain could bring to banking are faster transactions, cost reduction, improved security, and record keeping

FACT: One study from Accenture found that blockchain technology could reduce bank infrastructure costs by 30%.

2. Cybersecurity

• The benefits blockchain could bring to cybersecurity are decentralization, confidentiality, accurate tracking, protected communication and reduction in fraud or errors

FACT: Currently the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency uses KSI (Keyless Signature Structure) to protect sensitive military data.

3. Supply Chain

• The benefits blockchain could bring to supply chain are a reduction in fraud or errors, improved inventory management, increased efficiency, improved customer engagement

FACT: FedEx has created a pilot blockchain program to help solve customer disputes in 2018.

4. Internet of Things (IoT)

• The benefits blockchain could bring to the internet of things are improved security, trusted data exchange, autonomous functioning of smart devices, and privacy implementation

FACT: In 2016, IBM had already invested over $200 million into blockchain-powered IoT.

5. Insurance

• The benefits blockchain could bring to insurance are transparency, efficiency, reduction in cost to process claims, reduction in insurance fraud, and improved customer engagement

FACT: 56% of insurance firms claimed they recognized the importance of blockchain, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

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BITS

But wait, there's more...

• Leaders of the G20 are asking for unified crypto regulation across the world.
• An ICO called Blockvest just won a court case against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a monumental court case.
• American car manufacturing giant General Motors (GM) has filed a blockchain patent for a solution to manage data from autonomous vehicles.

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Hello!  We are happy to invite you to participate in the Waves Blockchain Hackathon in Moscow that takes place on December 14–16. You are going to have an opportunity to meet the Waves team, learn about the Waves products ecosystem, suggest blockchain ideas and take part in workshops based on the use of Waves smart-contracts and Waves DEX. Waves Platform and partners will award the best teams. Scala, JS or Python developers may take part in the Waves Blockchain Hackathon You can sign up individually or with a team To complete the registration, you will need to pass a test On Friday moderators will divide participants into teams and give them tasks, then teams will have 48 hours to complete the tasks. On Sunday judges announce the winning team  Sign up on the website and subscribe to the event news on Facebook. Participate here. Best Regards, Waves Team.

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	CoinSheet #229 Be the master of your will and the slave of your conscience. — Hasidic Saying Weekly Bulletin For the first time in history, the US has sanctioned 2 bitcoin address U.S. Department of the Treasury (Office of Foreign Asset Control) is adding two crypto addresses to its sanctions list. ( Weekly Bulletin (Dec 2, 2018) CoinSheet #229 Dec 2 Public post Be the master of your will and the slave of your conscience. — Hasidic Saying Weekly Bulletin For the first time in history, the US has sanctioned 2 bitcoin address U.S. Department of the Treasury (Office of Foreign Asset Control) is adding two crypto addresses to its sanctions list. (Source) These addresses belong(ed) to two Iranian men who have launched ransomware attacks for the last 5 years. First of all…imagine that…being in bitcoin since 2013 and still reusing addresses. Folks, please don't reuse addresses, especially the same two for 5+ years. So what is this list? Marco Santori@msantoriESQ2/ First, what list? OFAC administers and enforces lists of very high-level bad actors. Quite bad, in fact. They're often Enemies of the State and are added as a tool to exert pressure for diplomatic purposes. Osama Bin Laden, for example, was on the list. November 28 2018 5 Retweets23 Likes Marco Santori@msantoriESQ3/ The list typically contains names, categories, other lists include geographical regions. Never, though, has the list included a Bitcoin address. Until today. November 28 2018 5 Retweets22 Likes This list means that… Marco Santori@msantoriESQ5/ So, nobody subject to OFAC's jurisdiction is permitted to engage in any transaction with the persons on the list or associated with the two addresses on the list. November 28 2018 1 Retweet And from a legal perspective this means… Marco Santori@msantoriESQ8/ It means that OFAC believes, today, that it has the tools it needs to enforce the law. It didn't ask for more legislation, nor did it didn't propose new prohibitions. The Treasury is fighting crypto bad guys using the tools already at its disposal. November 28 2018 12 Retweets43 Likes This last of Marco's analysis is interesting. As Marty points out, chain analysis companies have tracking techniques that are heuristic based and don't provide 100% certainty. Marty Bent@MartyBentThe problem that is going to naturally arise for chain analysis companies and the regulators they obediently serve is that their tracking techniques are completely heuristic based, meaning they will never have 100% certainty that their assumptions are correct. November 29 2018 1 Retweet23 Likes Now, imagine telling someone who isn't familiar with cryptocurrencies about bitcoin and these sanctions. They would probably respond in a way similar to this: Steve Middlebrook@stmdc@propelforward If your current software doesn't already check addresses against a prohibited list before authorizing a transaction, then you may need code changes. But seriously, who would have built a transaction engine without that capability????? November 28 2018 6 Likes Good point, right? Why isn't there a mechanism to prevent people from interacting with folks on the SDN list (Specially Designated Nationals list)? Well, because bitcoin doesn't work like that. As Pierre points out: Pierre Rochard [⚡️]@pierre_rochardIf the US Federal government wants Bitcoin full nodes to blacklist certain addresses when validating blocks and transactions, it will have to design and implement this feature themselves, and then persuade people around the world to run their software. Very big challenge! Steve Middlebrook@stmdc @propelforward If your current software doesn't already check addresses against a prohibited list before authorizing a transaction, then you may need code changes. But seriously, who would have built a transaction engine without that capability????? November 28 2018 75 Retweets377 Likes TL:DR - This will be an interesting case study in the ability of regulators to actually regulate Bitcoin. Oh, and again, don't be reusing 5 year old bitcoin addresses. And if you want some more technical thoughts on this, you can check out this tweet thread. Tether now allows for direct redemption of USDT for USD Last week announced that it has launched "a redesigned platform allowing for the verification of new customers and direct redemption of Tether to fiat." There is a minimal issuance and redemption requirements equal to 100,000 USD and $100,000 USD₮. Hopefully this clears most of the Tether FUD. And with that said, Tether still isn't particularly interesting and stablecoins are still stupid. Recommended Readings Required reading if you still think that miners control bitcoin. You can read the article here. That's all for now. If you think I missed anything important, mention it in the Telegram group. Have a great week folks! You're on the free list for CoinSheet. For the full experience, become a paying subscriber. Subscribe © 2018 CoinSheet LLC Unsubscribe 427 N Tatnall St #84981 Wilmington, DE 19801 A Substack newsletter